Ch.6561 – Learned Helplessness

[Fight with me here! / Stop interfering and stay out of the way!]

I didn’t want to say such harsh things to Adella, but…

[User ‘StarbyKirby’ donated 3,000 won!]

-Every time you choose the first option, Adella’s health drops by 10%!

Can’t help it since it’s a choice.

[▶Stop interfering and stay out of the way!]

I needed to focus on clearing this now.

We’d spent too much time in the materials storage.

I was so busy dealing with the endless waves of guards that I couldn’t even glance at the silent donation notifications popping up.

We continued our desperate battle in the Admissions Management Headquarters, the last remaining location.

It was also a place with the deepest meaning for Adella.

But she was always just getting in the way.

[I need to join forces with you now! / Didn’t you hear me? Stay far away!]

[▶Didn’t you hear me? Stay far away!]

The Admissions Management Headquarters wasn’t a system with a single mid-boss, but an event where you had to defeat multiple elite NPCs.

They seemed to be instructors involved in selecting new students for the Academy.

It would be disrespectful to call them professor-level with that level of skill, though.

[I’m at my limit! Help me, Adella! / Until the end, you’re just a useless black cat.]

“…”

When I delayed making a choice until the end, the system naturally selected the second option.

[Operation time exceeded.]

[▶Until the end, you’re just a useless black cat.]

…It was all for Adella’s sake.

It was actually a miracle that Adella had survived this far.

In the observatory, in the materials storage, I don’t know how many times we narrowly escaped death.

You should repay your debt to the Gestalt branch manager too.

The guards began to panic.

It was proof that the feint operation on the eastern side was working successfully.

“Let’s escape to the northern forest and come back when things settle down.”

Escape wasn’t easy.

Since we hadn’t even entered the Academy headquarters yet, we were able to slip out through the city’s many alleyways without encountering any enemies.

Adella followed behind me, panting heavily.

Shouldn’t a cat at least be nimble?

“Let’s wait here.”

I spotted a suitable staircase and decided to sit down to conserve stamina.

Adella trudged over and sat down beside me.

“Do you think Alperion and Ciciella will be able to find the laurel…?”

“Thirty people went through the east gate. If they know the exact location, they’ll manage to bring it back.”

“Right. They’re all stronger than me anyway.”

How long would we have to wait?

The quest window gave no indication.

“Forest Guardian, you really fought well. In the observatory, in the materials storage, in the Admissions Management Headquarters…”

Adella’s voice trailed off.

She seemed unusually depressed. Unlike her usual self, perhaps the moonlit night was making her emotional.

“Compared to you, I… I wasn’t any help at all. If this was going to happen, you could have just gone alone, NoName.”

“If you hadn’t crashed into the ceiling in the materials storage, we might not have defeated the storage keeper.”

“No. You definitely would have won by yourself.”

Adella’s ears drooped. Even her tail, which had been swishing back and forth, lost its energy.

“Those people you fought in the Admissions Management Headquarters. They were the instructors who supervised my entrance exam two years ago. They were all incredibly strong.”

“They were strong.”

“Maybe I was never meant to be at the Academy. Just a thief from smelly alleyways… I guess we all return to our places eventually, since that’s my lot in life.”

[User ‘e평q평rq평e’ donated 10,000 won!]

-That’s what happens when you’re just a burden

“It was beyond my abilities from the start.”

Adella tossed one of her daggers into the air.

She tried to catch it by threading the handle through another dagger’s tip as it spun, but her trick failed miserably as it glanced off the blade.

“Hehe, I can’t even do this… I’m really pathetic…”

[Move to the Academy’s North Gate and rendezvous with ‘Abyss’.]

“Let’s go, Adella.”

“…”

As always, once the quest started, her responses disappeared.

She got up as if nothing had happened and followed behind me.

* * *

There are things in this world called ‘inevitabilities.’

Events that will happen no matter what.

Events where the cause and effect are so clear that it would be strange if they didn’t happen.

For example, ice left at room temperature will naturally melt over time.

For example, a country that engages in excessive wars of aggression and tax exploitation will inevitably collapse from within.

This theory applies not only to individual phenomena but also to macroscopic domains.

In other words, it was perhaps inevitable that betrayers would emerge in a group with rock-bottom trust, to the extent that the branch manager had foreseen it and given us hints.

“Ciciella! Why are you alone? Where’s Alperion!”

Adella rushed forward to support the severely injured Ciciella.

“Cici… The old man was right. Unfortunately, only half right…”

Ciciella pulled out the arrow lodged in her thigh, causing blood to spurt out.

“Now I understand why they sent just the two of you on such a dangerous mission.”

“What do you mean-“

“All our mercenaries betrayed us. Everyone from Abyss District 15 has sided with the Academy!”

She testified that when they were trying to steal the laurel and escape, their comrades suddenly turned on them, attacking Alperion and Ciciella without hesitation.

What could have happened?

I was certain that something had gone terribly wrong while they were infiltrating, but our comrades didn’t say a word.

But skilled fighters are still skilled fighters.

“The laurel is here. I need to go back and help Alperion. Forest Guardian, please don’t abandon Adella. Please.”

“Ciciella!”

“Take it and run away! Quickly!”

“I can’t do that…!”

“Forest Guardian, hurry up and take her away!”

Suddenly, the world turned black and white.

Both the bear-kin who was angrily telling us to escape with Adella and Adella who was stubbornly refusing—all stopped moving.

Not just them, but the fluttering leaves, ashes, and embers were all frozen in space.

In this paused world, I was the only one who could move freely.

Two choices floated before me.

[I wish you luck. Please survive and meet again. / I can’t abandon my comrades.]

Unlike all the other choices I’d faced so far, this one completely paused the game time.

Usually, if I delayed my answer, the NPCs would urge me on and pressure me.

But now, as if telling me to think carefully before answering, the game kindly paused even the playtime.

Instinctively, I felt this was the most important branching point in the game.

After a moment’s consideration, I manipulated the interface in the air.

[▶Chat Window – ON]

It wasn’t a matter of pride.

I was the one with relatively less information.

I finally decided to seek help from the viewers.

“Please tell me. I don’t mind spoilers.”

Making hasty choices without information is a shortcut to death.

Besides, I couldn’t get a sense of what tricks the developers might have played.

Like in a dating sim where you accept a junior’s confession and suddenly a truck hits you from behind—that kind of development could happen, right?

Characters made of Hangul and Arabic numerals surged like waves.

-11111111111

-Definitely 111111111111

-Option 2 is 100% bad ending choose 1111111111

-If you choose option 2, 100% chance you die too

-If you go help them, all the Academy students will rush out lol

-As expected of Wearsoft! Hiding a depressing drift in a healing game!

-Still haven’t fixed that habit from Darkness Souls

-Fact) The story writer is actually the same person

-ㄴOn normal difficulty it was pure healing…

-ㄴWhat are you talking about? I’m so bad I struggled even on normal

-ㄴThat’s just you;;

-It’s kind of philosophical. Since you chose Nightmare to recover the laurel in the shortest time without caring about the story, you have to accept these sacrifices, right?

-ㄴThat’s garbage philosophy

-I wonder if the censorship committee actually saw the Nightmare story when they reviewed the game? lolololol

-It’s not like they input each line of dialogue like a computer game, they write the background and character personalities in scripts, so non-experts probably wouldn’t know

-There’s really no dream or hope here

-Should we spoil this? Or not?

-The streamer already gave permission

-No matter what you choose, Alperion and Ciciella die here RIP

-ARGGHHH!!!

A confirmed mechanic where they can’t be saved.

I asked again for an accurate judgment.

“Can’t we save Alperion if we go?”

-Nope, it’s confirmed

-He probably already has an arrow through his heart and is a corpse by now

-Ciciella also got hit with a poison arrow so she won’t live long

-Is this for real?

-This is a masterpiece…?

-This should be rated 19+ not 15+

-How did they avoid an adult rating in Korea

[▶I wish you luck. Please survive and meet again.]

“I wish you luck. Please survive and meet again.”

I felt uneasy.

It was incredibly uncomfortable to send a comrade to their death.

If Wearsoft’s strategy was to properly upset people, then it certainly worked on me.

World of Arsheria’s story mode wasn’t for me.

I resolved that the next time I streamed, I would watch all the speedrun guides and clear it in the shortest time possible.

I forcibly grabbed Adella’s arm and pulled her away from Ciciella.

Once I made my choice, we were also under a time attack.

“Adella, we weren’t particularly close in Abyss, but please survive. When you return, I’ll party with you as much as you want.”

“No! NoName, let go! How can you send her back to fight in that condition!”

“We have to go. The enemy is coming again.”

“Hic… hic…!”

I took the distraught Adella and broke through the enemy lines.

My chain flail, which could barely be called a weapon, was becoming increasingly dull.

If I subdued ten enemies, twenty would rush in, and after killing twenty, thirty would charge at us.

-Holy shit this must be Nightmare difficulty, I can’t breathe

-No, even Nightmare isn’t this bad, they didn’t just increase the difficulty, they multiplied the number of enemies by like ten

-Mana’s already gone, can we survive this?

-Don’t you have scrolls left? Come to think of it, the streamer hasn’t used any

-One hit and you’re dead, I’m getting nervous just watching

-Both stamina management and physical skill seem insane

A fight of one against many isn’t called a fight.

Since the majority always wins, it was more like hunting than combat.

The prey only needed to think of one thing.

Escape at full speed.

Just a bit further and we’d reach the Academy’s north gate.

I checked one last time to make sure I still had the laurel.

[Laurel of Life]

[Synchronization is not possible during combat.]

Did each laurel have its own name?

I check the one Lephi gave me.

[Laurel of Reincarnation]

Reincarnation?

Was the reason for returning to the beginning of the game when you die explained by the Laurel of Reincarnation?

The game developers were amazing for paying attention to such small details.

If we could just get over the Academy wall, it would be difficult to find us in the complex city.

“…!”

A massive ice spike came crashing down on us from the sky with ferocious momentum.

I shouldn’t try to melt it. Water has an extremely high specific heat, so my current fire magic would be useless.

[Higher Casting: Turbulence]

I manipulated the airflow to barely change its direction just enough to graze past us. In that sense, ‘Turbulence’ was a magic that could be cast over the widest area with minimal mana.

“Can’t even catch these little rat pups properly. I can see the level of the guards now.”

A middle-aged man in an impeccably neat suit descended from the sky.

His monocle glinting in the moonlight and the rhythmic ticking of his pocket watch were striking.

“Father…?”

Following Adella’s single word, I couldn’t believe my ears.